at any time that he believed in
his Muse, and was prepared to do more than cheer for one who had
fought with her pen for "Oireland" in the _Nation_ side by side with
Tom Davis.

Lady Wilde gave her evidence emphatically, but was too bitter to be a
persuasive witness. It was tried to prove from her letter that she
believed that Miss Travers had had an intrigue with Sir William Wilde,
but she would not have it. She did not for a moment believe in her
husband's guilt. Miss Travers wished to make it appear, she said, that
she had an intrigue with Sir William Wilde, but in her opinion it was
utterly untrue. Sir William Wilde was above suspicion. There was not a
particle of truth in the accusation; _her_ husband would never so
demean himself.

Lady Wilde's disdainful speeches seemed to persuade the populace, but
had small effect on the jury, and still less on the judge.

When she was asked if she hated Miss Travers, she replied that she
did not hate anyone, but she had to admit that she disliked Miss
Travers' methods of action.

"Why did you not answer Miss Travers when she wrote telling you of
your husband's attempt on her virtue?"

"I took no interest in the matter," was the astounding reply.

The defence made an even worse mistake than this. When the time came,
Sir William Wilde was not called.

In his speech for Miss Travers, Mr. Butt made the most of this
omission. He declared that the refusal of Sir William Wilde to go into
the witness box was an admission of guilt; an admission that Miss
Travers' story of her betrayal was true and could not be contradicted.
But the refusal of Sir William Wilde to go into the box was not, he
insisted, the worst point in the defence. He reminded the jury that he
had asked Lady Wilde why she had not answered Miss Travers when she
wrote to her. He recalled Lady Wilde's reply:

"I took no interest in the matter."

Every woman would be interested in such a thing, he declared, even a
stranger; but Lady Wilde hated her husband's victim and took no
interest in her seduction beyond writing a bitter, vindictive and
libellous letter to the girl's father....

The speech was regarded as a masterpiece and enhanced the already
great reputation of the man who was afterwards to become the Home Rule
Leader.

It only remained for the judge to sum up, for everyone was getting
impatient to hear the verdict. Chief Justice Monahan made a short,
impartial speech, throwing the dry, white light o